Phewww. I am happy I have my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 from Sprint. Yeah, sorry to bitch but I have OCD and this damn off-settling logo on the home button would BEYOND irritate me. I love this phone to pieces but would definitely be bothered by the dumb logo. Verizon sucks. I had them and hands down, worst service ever! And WAY TOO entirely expensive! I can't go wrong with Sprint! Sure their 4g isn't everywhere but luckily for me, I'm typically around WI-FI all day. I'd be buying those home button decals ASAP!!

Yea but Nike actually makes the shoe and ford makes the car.... the equivalent to what's happening would be if you bought a ford car with a ford logo then went to BP for gas and they branded your front bumper because you used their gas lol... its a Samsung phone.... a Samsung logo is acceptable!!!

Perhaps it is just me but most everything one purchases has a logo. Nike has the swoosh on their products, ford has the blue ford logo, car dealers place license plates or stickers on the vehicles they sell, so is it safe to assume all those complaining about verizon placing their logo on a phone do not purchase another product with logos? Just a thought.

The Verizon home button is a symbol of their disgusting arrogance, and that is why it bothers so many. I mean, the big logo on the back of the N2 wasn't enough? They REALLY needed the logo on the button too?

Yeah, I pre-ordered and will have mine in a few days, despite the button thing as well as a $30 "upgrade fee" that will be charged to me after 11 years as a good customer paying Verizon's high rates (makes me sick). On top of this I waited while other carriers roller their N2s out a month ago, while Verizon waited for Samsung to load the maximum possible amount of bloatware on the devices before sale, to further stimulate profits.

So why do "suckers" like me stay with them? Allow me to explain...

While waiting as other carriers rolled the N2 out I realized that I was just SICK of Verizon and decided that this would be a good chance to switch carriers and get my N2 sooner. Keep in mind I live in Phoenix.

First off to the ATT store. The phone worked great in the office, great in most places, but got no signal in my home. The phone was returned that afternoon.

Ditto for T-mobile on another day.

Then over to Sprint a week later. With Sprint I had just the opposite result. The phone worked great at home, but got little or no signal in my office. The phone was returned the same day.

Now here I sit, like all the other Verizon suckers, waiting for my Verizon Note 2 with the stupid home button logo and huge logo on the back. Why?

Because there is no substitute for their awesome coverage. They have me, and many more like me, because of this fact. It's frustrating, but they know that by having service that is by far the best (at least here in Phoenix), they own you. My phone is just too important to work "some of the time", and Verizon always works.

There you have it, the sad truth for many. Yes carrier coverage performance varies by location, but I have heard many stories like mine from others in other places.

I guess I am one of those not understanding the outcry over this home button. Every phone I have ever owned from any carrier has had the company logo on it at least once in a prominent location. This goes all the way back to the days of my old analog phone from Motorola that I used with Ameritech in the late 1990s. Besides, if I look at the link Jerry Hildebrand provided in his story, the VZW logo is only on the front once, and just happens to be the home button logo. This is different from the fact many phones have their logo on the front how? It's a button instead of being printed on the device itself. No big deal.

Every carrier isn't perfect. They have their pros and their cons. Yet you also have to pick and choose your battles. Folks, this isn't worth the battle. Focus on something more significant, like the senseless bloatware Verizon insists on packaging with its products, not the fact it chooses to put its lone front logo on the button. No matter how you try to spin it or what theories you try to put out there, it's not worth it.

Truly, if the home button having the Verizon button is your jumping off point, a phone carrier's decisions should be the least of your concerns. You may want to seek professional help and re-prioritize your life.

I hear you. No carrier is really better...At&t = best, newest phones with a shitty network. VZW = Maybe second best phones, but the best coverage, though most expensive. T-Mo - Little cheaper than VZW, on par with phones, but not as big a network. US Cell - GREAT customer benefits, phones sub par, costs less per month, shocking coverage (with roaming) And Sprint...ok phones, ...ehh...ahem...yeah.

The home button thing sucks, but its' not that big a deal really. Not even big enough for Hildebrand to write about - so 55 comments (thus far)is pretty astounding to me.

Wow, this is a pretty petty point. If all you have to worry about is a logo on a piece of equipment, then the device and it's carrier must be in pretty good standings.

If you look at the back of my AT&T phone (who I deeply regret switching to this year), it has a great big AT&T logo for everyone to see. Who cares??? If you hate Verizon and their logo so much, then feel free to go to an online store and buy the unsubsidized version for $650 USD so you can cry about how much it costs to have no carrier logo. Waaaaaaaahhhh!

Next up is the fact that the phone manufacturer itself has their brand logo on their products. Yeah, that's right; nearly every type of manufacturer, of nearly every type of product has branding of some type printed on their product. Maybe you you can start a movement against that as well.

BTW, why put a cheap sticker over the logo when you can just go online and buy and the part itself without the logo and switch it out? :)

People are delusional to think that any carrier in America is better than Verizon. Verizon has the best network, hands down. Factually and technically speaking. Meaning coverage, reliability, integrity, connection quality be it voice or data. Talking to anyone on tmo or att is torture, they sound like their in a shaky wind tunnel. I always see people that are cheap bad mouthing Verizon. Pay to play. From experience, I've used the four major carriers around the country and Verizon just has the best network.

Verizon sucks for this! If they want to advertise on the phone, they should be paying me! Its a $700 phone for goodness sake. If they're gonna go and do something like this, I want...umm...$400. That's right. If they're gonna put their logo on the home button, I want them to sell me the phone for $300!! I'm putting my foot down.

What's that you say? They actually will knock $400 off the price and all I have to put up with is their logo on the home button? So what's everybody whining about?

If you accept a slight elevated monthly fee, you can just pay $150 in store and then $55 per month.

Verizon is an extremely expensive carrier and their branded home button can't be excused either. It is worth to mention that this cheap Note II with Telenor lacks ALL KINDS OF BRANDING!

That's right! No branding - no logotype anywhere to be seen.

With the prices the US carriers charge for devices and services, branding is just wrong.:)

Paying $299 in store and then $100 per month means that branding is just laughable.

A branded device should be cheap, with cheap service. $150 up front and similar pricing to Telenor means that it can be acceptable to have a carrier logo on phone and altered software. But certainly not for $299 PLUS $100 per month.

Cover that ridiculous logo on Verizon's Galaxy Note 2 home button with an equally ridiculous sticker. Get three pieces for $10 U.S. and stick it to the man. LOL! Now that's funny! So glad I'm no longer a Vilerizon customer.

I don't think it would bother me "usability" wise, probably wouldn't even notice it 99% of the time either, my GSII from AT&T had that horrible "ball" logo right smack dead center on the front of the device and I never paid it much attention.
However, it's the principal of the matter. Carriers want to advertise, I understand that and that's fine, but USE THE BACK of the device! Imagine it as a big blank billboard, and gaudy it up to your hearts content, just leave the front of OUR device's alone.
I mean really, we don't need a reminder where to send the money every month..

Is it really that big a deal? I agree it looks stupid, but it is what it is.
Verizon doesn't care what you think. If they look at any of this at all, they will just issue a press release to convince us that we asked for it that way.

See how everyone can come together on this hatred for a logo. Let's come together like this for cellphone reform. These crooks are Robbing us every month, we're being forced to sign contracts for discounts, which are not discounts at all. This phone is $299 with new 2yr agreement but $650 without. The Galaxy note 10.1 only costs $499, someone explain This to me. Then after you get the contract they price gouge you for everything. Let's band together to change the cellphone industry instead of worrying about a logo, Verizon is guilty of far more evils than showing people what network you're on.

I haven't the chance (Or the reason) to check the Verizon Note 2 (Well, I don't live in the US so why bother). So I just hit Verizonwireless.com and man that's an ugly button. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?! I live in a place where we don't use the contract-phone system, so we don't have carrier branded phones. With that said, I wouldn't mind using a phone with the branding of the carrier on the BACK, but why ruin the front, specifically the HOME BUTTON?! If no one else is doing it, why do it?!

Sadly, I will probably buy one of these. Better than staring at more evidence of Verizon's arrogance and stupidity everyday.

I've got two contract upgrades waiting for me in my Family Plan..I can't turn down two cheap phones. However, when they're gone, I'm done with Big Red, for bigger reasons than this stupid home button branding.

I don't care (Im on Sprint) about the name being on there but as they said in the Podcast, the Home button will not function as the home button but as a Verizon Button. So what ever Verizon chooses for this button to do like open up there Apps file to see there latest stuff will sock. If you take away the main purpose of the button then what the heck will you use to get home? I don't think Verizon cared to much about there customers and the use of this device. This is another great example of why I stick with Sprint. The devil you know is better then the one you don't.

No Verizon isn't doing that. It was a hypothetical. Printing the logo on the button could cause confusion to people using the phone, even though all the have to do is press it to find out what it does. But what you said is incorrect, that was a hypothetical thought of what someone might think the button is used for because of the stupid logo being printed right on it.

Not sure if you were responding to me or the person who actually thought Verizon eliminated a home button from an Android phone and made it for Verizon apps. I was just stating the possibility of confusion, the same possibility that was addressed on the podcast this past week. As I said, it'd be easy to find out what the function of the button is for a confused user. No where did I tell someone how to use a device like some iUsers did during the deathgrip saga.

I'm paying freaking extra 50 dollars because of fucking Verizon Wireless.
1. I'm not going to lose my Unlimited Data so I'm upgrading my device by paying full cost.
2. Verizon wireless is the last one to bring this phone out in the market. Hate you freaking Scumbags, Verizon wireless idiots. They are taking longer because Samsung is custom making Note 2 for Verizon Wireless with loading all those bloatware.
3. Every other carrier has an option to buy Note 2 for $649+tax how come Verizon is charging 50 more dollars? I didn't freaking told you Verizon to put your shitty name on my device.
You better pay me a monthly/give me few dollars off to advertise your shit all over the place.
This is the my last freaking deal with you shitty Verizon Wireless and Once I'm done talking my family into moving over to something else, we are talking away our five lines to some other network.
Go Fuck your self Verizon Wireless.

It's obnoxious. There's Verizon branding on the back and on the home button. And as mentioned on the podcast, even though it'd just take clicking the button to figure things out, having the Verizon logo right on a button on the device might make some think that there's Verizon specific functions designated to it. Also compared to the original design (as in, every other GNote 2 variant), it's completely out of place to have anything printed on that button.

Very good points! Never thought about people misinterpeting Samsungs home button design for Verizon's or its designed function. Verizon could gain a whole lot of credit for very little input!...My problem,due to where I live, is Verizon might as well be the only carrier.

I'm not sure I get it. Apparently people hate to have Verizon reminding them that they're on Verizon's network, but not enough to just...not pay for their service.
And it isn't like this is the first time Verizon has stuck their logo on something, I don't see how it's that much worse because it's on a home button...

The funny part of your statement packing up and going to a lessor carrier as you claim is exactly what I did in June 2012 and never looked back. Yeah you might think this appears to be minor on Verizon's part but it's not at all. When I left it was for the Galaxy Nexus debacle lack of service for a stock android device. Poor updates, crappy reception, piss poor battery life, and abismal signal strength. Verizon is the biggest joke in the carrier business in so many aspects it's not even funny. It's plainly clear that Verizon has this inferiority complex always feeling like they need to be different than the other carriers. Oddly everyone else on Verizon is to blind to see the truth everyone acts like they are strung out on some kind of stem when it comes to Verizon. I am proudly on Tmobile and i am here to you and all the other Verizon dweebs that all that glitters isn't gold folks. Tmobile mops Verizon's ass here on the east coast in every aspect. Bigger might be better with some things but not in Verizon's case. They have gotten to big for their britches that's why Google KICKED VERIZON TO THE CURB ON THE LG NEXUS 4. Verizon won't get a chance to '' F'' Up another Nexus that's for sure. I know many people who left Verizon sold there cdma Verizon Galaxy Nexus and purchased the REAL NEXUS at the Google play store and brought the device over to Tmobile. Verizon is WORST THAN APPLE... Meanwhile Tmobile pimp slaps Verizon silly in major ways...

The funny part of both of your comments is the terrible misspelling of the word lesser. :-)

The VZW logo is terrible on this phone, it's in a stupid and obnoxious place. The guy who came up with the idea should be shot in the foot. I won't be getting the Note 2 after all because of it. I'll just wait until the 'next big thing'.

I have 5 people on my Verizon family plan and the bill is $250 a month. So we all pay $50 each. And that includes unlimited data. $50/month for my S III with unlimited data and great coverage and blazing fast lte speed. What exactly is this truth I'm blind to? Will t-mobile give me the same for $40???

I had to reread and think about this statement and I don't get your math. If you have 5 lines it is impossible that you are getting unlimited data on all of them at that price and be paying $250 a month on any current available pricing. You are either a Verizon Wireless employee or on a grandfathered Alltel plan with 500 minutes, neither of which would be available to Joe Public today.

It's the principle of the matter. They know most people get cases for their phone and it covers the back logo. If verizon wants me to advertise them, then pny up the dough or discount my bill. I don't want to be reminded that I'm a slave to their network, the network with unlimited data is the only thing keeping me there.

I'm with you on this one I'm past the age of 12 and have real day to day things to deal with. Yes I am a Verizon customer, I have unlimited data live in a place where they have better coverage that other providers and because of the discount I get it is cheaper than any of the other providers. Sadly though its looking as T-Mobile may be the last real cell provider if I have to ever switch.